1. Field of the Invention
A navigation system for guiding a traveler along a determined route in a digital map to a point of interest, and more particularly guiding a traveler from an outdoor location to a specific location inside a building structure.
2. Related Art
It is now a common practice for travelers to obtain route guidance and navigation assistance using a portable navigation device having position determining capabilities, such as those enabled by GPS functionality. A personal navigation device, like that shown at 10 for example in FIG. 1, may be configured to utilize digital maps for route planning and navigation purposes. The navigation system 10 includes, typically, a display screen 12 or suitable graphic user interface that portrays a network of road segments 14 along with directional cues that lead a traveler to some selected destination. For the sake of clarity, it is to be understood that the term “road” as used here refers broadly to geometry supporting all kinds of transportation—including not only motorized vehicle traffic, but also bicycle, pedestrian, etc. When configured as a portable device with position determining capabilities, the navigation device 10 can be correlated to the digital map and its current position displayed on or referenced in images portrayed on the display screen 12. Examples of such devices include in-car navigation systems, hand-held navigation systems, appropriately equipped PDAs, some cell phones, and the like. Alternatively, the navigation device 10 may not have position determining capabilities, as is the case with most computer terminals, and as such used for route planning purposes but not real-time navigation.
Such navigation devices 10 are well known for their ability to plan a route between two locations in a digital map. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, a traveler may enter a destination address 16 and the navigation device 10 will plan a route from its current position or a starting point of origin 18 using appropriate cost-determining algorithms.
Interest in three-dimensional (3D) rendering in connection with navigation devices 10 is growing in the marketplace. Sometimes, it is preferable to provide route planning and navigation visuals in a 2D, so-called bird's eye view mode and then display 3D images as the destination 16 is approached. The 3D images are thought to aide a traveler in navigation by providing visual references corresponding to structures visible in real life. Examples of prior art teaching 3D objects rendered as a traveler approaches their destination may be found in, for example, US Publication No. 2009/0157313 to Lee, published Jun. 18, 2009, US Publication No. 2004/0015292 to Wiio et al., published Jan. 22, 2004, US Publication No. 2009/0171581 to Ushida et al., published Jul. 2, 2009, and US Publication No. 2009/0082960 to Ramaswami et al., published Mar. 26, 2009.
Interest in 3D modeling in connection with navigation services has also been directed toward building interiors, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,728,636 to Kokojima et al., issued Apr. 27, 2004. This Kokojima patent teaches a system and method for guiding a traveler to various points of interest within a building, for example leading a traveler to a ticket counter inside a railway station.
While these various prior art teachings exist in isolation, there is in fact no effective way known in the art to guide a traveler from an outdoor point of origin to an interior or indoor destination point using combinations of 2D and 3D imaging and directional cues. Rather, the prior art systems are capable only of guiding a traveler to a particular building address and announcing that the destination has been reached. This may also be accompanied by a 3D model rendering of the building or other physical object for the benefit of the traveler, however, current navigation systems are incapable of directing the traveler to a particular entrance and then inside the building to a destination point of interest which, in the previously offered example of a railway station, may comprise the ticket counter.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide a method and navigation system for guiding travelers from an outdoor point of origin to an indoor destination using effective combinations of 2D and 3D renderings with directional cues. Furthermore, there is a need to provide navigation assistance that can be more easily understood in practice by incorporating available visual references and directional cues more closely modeled after human-to-human interactions.